Tweetie

Hot off the presses from the official Twitter blog, we learn they're buying Atebit's Tweetie, renaming it Twitter for iPhone, and making it free. Atebit's founder, Loren Brichter, will become a key member of their mobile team. What brought this on?

Careful analysis of the Twitter user experience in the iTunes AppStore revealed massive room for improvement. People are looking for an app from Twitter, and they're not finding one. So, they get confused and give up. It's important that we optimize for user benefit and create an awesome experience.

Tapped on App Store and what did I see? Updates for Tweetie, Loopt, Foursquare, and Flickr -- and a couple of those say iPhone OS 3.2 (aka iPad) right there in the What's New listing. (Yeah, that doesn't mean 3.2 is coming to the iPhone or these are 1024x768 versions, likely just that they're built using that SDK for maximum blackboxing on the iPad).

Tweetie 2 and Twitterrific 2 aren't just two of the best Twitter clients for the iPhone, they're two of the best mobile micro-blogging interfaces on the planet and now both WordPress and Tumblr are taking advantage of them -- which is ridiculously awesome for iPhone users.

WordPress now lets you "Post and Read via Twitter API", and they have a complete walkthrough posted on how to set it up.

Tweetie 2.1 [$2.99 - iTunes link] -- a FREE upgrade for Tweetie 2.0 users -- brings support for Twitter's new Geotag feature (so everyone will know where exactly you're tweeting from), Twitter lists (what lists you have, what lists you subscribe to, though not the likely less-wieldly lists you're on), and the controversial new-style re-tweets (where you see the original tweeter in your timeline, not the person you're following who re-tweeted it).

There are other additions as well: report spam (via API), tweet-stream "gap" detection (looks like a torn gap in your timeline), and a tone of other stuff (including disable pin-stripes for the pixel-haters).

So how does Tweetie 2.1 handle all this new stuff? With Atebit's trademark buttery-smooth UI. Geotag is a new icon under the tweet-count drop-down menu. Twitter lists can be accessed via the More (...) icon on the bottom navigation bar, and you can view, manage, and even add new lists right on-device. New-style re-tweets get a small pink corner icon on the top right, and tapping on it brings up the original tweet with text on the bottom telling you which person you follow re-tweeted it.

If you decide to give it a try, let us know how you like it. (Or help me try it out via @reneritchie)

Tweetie 2.0 [$2.99 - iTunes link] is the second generation release of one of the iPhone's most popular Twitter clients. According to developer Atebits, it's also a ground-up re-write -- it even has a snazzy new gray, single, cut-out bubble icon to prove it -- the only thing 2.0 having in common with 1.0 being the name. I'd argue that point -- they're also both darn good Twitter clients, and they both share a price of $2.99.

That's right. Since Apple doesn't (yet?) provide a mechanism for upgrades (which to many developers means incentive and to many users means discount), and since in-app purchase can only add content, not replace an entire app, Atebits is packaging Tweetie 2.0 as a whole new app. And they're charging the same price. In other words, whether you bought the first Tweetie or not, you'll have to buy Tweetie 2.0.

Boxcar [$1.99 - iTunes link] is almost more enabler than app. It only does one thing, but thus far it does it very, very well -- it sends Push Notifications for Twitter @mentions and Direct Messages (DMs) that then open in either Tweetie or Twitterrific.

Setup is straight forward; you log into your account through an in-app view of Twitter's website, and authorize Boxcar. You can select whether you want Push Notification for either @mentions, DMs, or both, and which of the aforementioned apps you want to open them in (hopefully support for more options will be forthcoming, such as Tweetdeck, Birdfeed, Twittelator Pro, etc.). You can also choose to automatically tweet them a shout out.

Like all Push-enabled apps, you can exit to the iPhone Settings to turn on or off Sounds, Alert (text boxes), and/or Badges.

That's it. Sit back and enjoy Push Notifications so you can immediately know when anyone talks to or about you on Twitter. Even when you're watching a movie on your iPhone. Or playing a game. Or writing an SMS. Or even taking a phone call -- if anyone still does that...

In other words, it works so well, you may have to learn to better manage your Twitter interruptions.

Now the crux: is a couple of bucks a lot to pay for an app that arguably only extends the usefulness of other apps that you already paid a few bucks (or more) for? Depends on how badly you want Push Notification for Twitter, whether you're willing to wait for full-on Twitter clients to add it themselves (however long that takes), and if you realize a couple of bucks is very little, and partly going to support the developers servers that are handling the Twitter calls and passing them on to Apple's notification servers.

I bought it without a second thought. You'll have to weigh the value (which is more important than cost) yourselves, and let me know what you think in the comments -- or @reneritchie and I'll get it right away via push ;)

Apple.com has posted up the winners of the WWDC 2009 Apple Design Awards (APA), and specifically for our interests, the iPhone winners. Like last year, a lot of our favorites got the nod. Here they are, with iTunes links where available:

Every week a few of us from team TiPb, bloggers and forum crew alike, will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they're iPhone (or iPod touch) related, they're fair game.

So who's on deck this week and what are our picks? Find out after the break!